I have kept a reading journal since 2000. Feeling a little modern, I am now going to keep an online record of my literary conquests. After each book, I'll post a summary and comments. Maybe you'll decide to read one of them. And maybe you won't.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything

by David Sirota

Okay, I have to admit it: I loved the 1980s. Heck, I still love the eighties. I came of age in the eighties, and it is the decade which I hold near and dear to my heart.

In his book, Sirota makes this basic assertion: what happened in the eighties (politically and culturally) has a large effect on how we live today.

He tackles four main “movements” of the eighties:

• Nostalgia for the 50s + hatred for the sixties = the rise of conservatism;
• The cult of the individual/celebrity;
• The rise of militarism in America; and
• The myth of color-blindness (as in race) in America.

Some parts of this book are very, very dry, and some parts are very interesting. While I love the author’s nostalgic look at the eighties, I am not sure about his comparison between the eighties and the decade in which we now live.